Family Feud: Scribonia Atosaki VS Marie José Sibiko
---- It was now Marie's turn to fight and after watching the previous fights presented by her family members, she certainly had to up her game if she was to fit in with House Sibiko's reputation. Marie wasn't even known by most her family as she was born outside their home, and lived predominately in a different country, the same country where the Atosakis were from. She was invited to partake in the matches after one of the original contenders for their side reported in sick, by her father nonetheless who had fought in the first match of the tournament. Marie was there to watch her father fight, and new that it would take quite a bit of time for her to match his capabilities, but for now her skills will all she have to use against her opponent. Walking out of the creaking gates that closed her waiting area, Marie walked into the strange battleground. In front of her was a massive pyramid that had flights of stairs ascending into the heavens. Wondering what may have been at the top, Marie instantly began running up the stairs to see if she could get a sight of today's enemy. Naturally, the winds change when one reaches a higher altitude. With height came the whipping torrents of Mother Nature herself — but this time, it was different. The artificiality of the surroundings exposed to both opponents that despite what their eyes led them to believe, they were inside nothing more than a man-made arena created with the intent of entertainment. Nonetheless, it did not matter to the girl who stood at the top of the apex of the pyramid, whose single braid of raven hair was flipped over her shoulder, likely in anticipation. As the approaching steps of what was likely a contender sounded, the other braid followed suit. Marie caught sight of the person awaiting on the top of the pyramid, wondering if she was released later than the other. Nonetheless, Marie approached the other girl with a bright smile on her face, signalling an intention to greet her opponent before fighting. "Hi there! I'm Marie." She introduced herself with a tone innocent and bright. Her black hair fell behind her head and her casual brown suit was already dusty with the sand that blew in the arena. Marie could see in the corner in her eye the referees in their uniforms lined around the battlegrounds, ready to act if something was to go wrong. Alas, Scribonia's natural enemy was her first... social interaction. Approaching the girl with an open hand, Scribonia's awkward grabby handshake was apparently sufficent as she walked swiftly back to her initial position. Despite the uncomfortable greeting, Scribonia planted her feet sturdily in the ground and her naturally dismissive expression glazed back over her face. Despite experiencing a situation that would've been in the back of her mind for at least the rest of the day, Scribonia's mind swept such immature thoughts to the back of her head. The battle she planned to participate in did not include a hand-shaking portion, after all. "I'm ready when you are," she stated. A simple smile and nod was given by Marie who remained in place. A sort of twinkle shined in her eyes before vanishing before the audience's very eyes. What the people couldn't see was Marie circling around the Scribonia before appearing once again to the young girl's side. This time in a ramming position with the side of her arm held outward to act as the striker and her other arm behind it, using her body's mass to help push Scribonia off. Scribonia was struck below her ribcage, with the hit pushing her back a substantial amount. She pressed the tips of her feet towards the ground and her shoes skidded as she came to a gliding stop. The attack was a well-planned one, but there was still a good distance between Scribonia and the edge of the pyramid vertex. After recovering from the blow, Scribonia placed her hands in her standard spellcasting formation. Following this, she muttered a certain phrase as a massive white-grey magical seal appeared next to her. She then followed by reaching into the seal and pulling out a large longsword, which seemed to dwarf the height of both of the girls. The razor sharp edge of the blade glinted in the artificial sunlight of the area, and Scribonia assumed as battle stance by gripping the blade tightly with both of her hands. The sword was tall for Marie, who looked up at the blade's tip up to the ceiling of the arena. She didn't like how it towered over her one bit, but she knew that she could somehow take it on if she played her moves right. Placing her right hand over her right eye, Marie quickly took it away to reveal that the black pupil had changed into a rune symbol. Activating her Anticipation Eye, Marie ran towards the large crystal that stood in the centre at the top of the pyramid. It was strange, for a crystal like this to be on the top here, it must have played some sort of purpose. Scribonia had seen the crystal and examined it previously; surely, it was placed their for a reason. Due to the competitive nature of the arena, Scribonia deduced that the crystal must operate on some sort of system similar to a "capture-the-flag" ideology, which would mean that if Marie were to capture the crystal, it would mean certain failure for both Scribonia and her family. After a process of rapid thought, Scribonia swung the blade at a lowered angle, swiping across the platform with the intent of taking out Marie's legs from underneath her and ensuring that she wouldn't utilize the crystal no matter its function. With her Eye Magic activating, Marie saw the blade coming her way as her instant thought to react was leap back over the sword, narrowly missing it. Landing right on the edge of the top, Marie struggled to regain her balance for a few seconds as she tried to push herself forward. Marie looked at Scribonia with an irritated expression, sighing as she remembered that this wasn't just going to be a simple fight. Realising that Scribonia was in some way protecting the crystal for some reason, Marie wanted to test a theory out for a second. Throwing her hand forward at the crystal, the object of interest magically vanished from sight as she smiled; "The crystal's mine now, just back down and we can finish this without much violence." No words were spoken in response to Marie's, and Scribonia simply tightened her grip on her blade. The arena was silent for a period of a few seconds, before there were four quick slashing sounds that rang out. Scribonia's blade seemed to cut through the air itself in such a fast manner that it was nearly invisible. Each swipe of the blade produced a ripping torrent that shot itself from the tip of the massive bone blade, headed for Marie with the intent of using this pressurized air as a debilitating attack method. Using her arms as a shield before taking a step back, the first shot colliding with her arms as she was sent back onto the steps behind her. Despite having been forced back, her prepared stance to go back anyway allowed her to remain standing as she was pushed. Moving her body to the side so that it allowed the shots to keep flying, and to also hide from Scribonia to form a plan. Circling around Scribonia as to remain undetected, Marie was careful with her footwork among the structure's stepping. Although the audience couldn't see her, Marie kept her head down before looking up for a bit to see where she was, just diagonal behind Scribonia and the location of the crystal. Bringing her head back down quickly, Marie continued to the side nearest to the crystal, climbing up and hiding behind the pedestal from her opponent to catch her breathe. Scribonia moved her silently, cautiously sliding her feet against the floor of the structure as to not make any sudden movements. Her hand flew up to her glasses as she gripped the rim and asjusted them slightly, before once more assuming her Bone-Make stance. This time, a massive seal materialized underneath her feet, with only seconds passing until a gigantic skeletal structure erupted from the seal beneath her. The structure pushed her up into the sky above the platform, allowing her to see any vantage point that she so wished — indeed, this technique proved useful as Scribonia spotted the hiding Marie in a small period of time. Once she had allocated her target, Scribonia yet again prepared her Bone-Make stance. After this particular incantation, various magic seals were conjured in the sky above the arena. Much like portals to a hellish universe, the magic seals themselves seemed to glow with an intense magical energy, before razor sharp shards of bone started shooting out of them like deadly rain. The shards embedded themselves in the arena floor and whistled as the shot downwards towards Marie. As soon as Marie had seen Scribonia create the giant bone structure, she immediately made her move and reached to grab the crystal which she had hidden. Her hand reached into the invisible space, her hand disappearing for a few brief seconds before reemerging with a jewel in hand. An orange crystal glistening in the hot desert sun that shone above them, Marie looked down at it before looking up to notice the spikes. With her Anticipation Eye, she was able to formulate the plan by moving out the way and onto the steps, rolling across them as she struggled to grab and hold on. This done nothing as the pyramid began to rumble underneath her, the arena shaking with fear as the stone structure was beginning to sink into the ground. The platforms that made the pyramid's levels descended into the sands with Marie having stopped as steps fell apart. Seeing this as her chance, Marie began to scale the pyramid, reaching for the sandy ground of the floor. The naturally quick-thinking Scribonia knew that she had to act fast, before the descent of the pyramid claimed her victory. In what was to be a rather unexpected tactic, Scribonia cast a particular spell once more, albeit slightly altered. With the same spell that had given her the vantage point, Scribonia replicated the bone structure various times in a declining altitude, creating massive platforms for her to utilize for her needs. The platforms erupted one after another in seconds, and they seemed to be summoned in the direct moment when Scribonia had launched herself and jumped from one to the next. The young girl had planted her feet on the solid sand below that pyramid at the same time as Marie, only a fair distance apart as the pyramid crumbled around them. Marie immediately saw Scribonia and knew to take the opportunity, approaching in a nearly sprinting pace at the young Atosaki. Throwing the crystal at Scribonia with a strong over arm, Marie timed the activation of her invisibility as the crystal left the last bit of her hand and into the air. Using the crystal as a sort of diversion, Marie would alter path and approach Scribonia from a different direction, out of the way of the crystal. Just like before, Marie would ram into Scribonia with the side of her body, and try and push the young girl away. With there being no high ground on this terrain anymore, Marie was going to finally need to actually push Scribonia into the dirt with full confrontation to win. Standing on the sandy landscape below where the pyramid stood, Scribonia rapidly turned her entire body to face the crystal, which was now travelling at a high speed towards her. Rather than counter-acting the projectile with some sort of magical tactic, Scribonia simply evaded the crystal by falling into the splits on the ground below. The crystal traveled directly over her head with a whisking sound as it broke the air above her. Even though Scribonia did not know it at the time, she may have just allowed Marie to be struck by her own attack, depending on where the latter chose to appear. The approach gave time for Marie to see what Scribonia would do, seeing as the crystal had missed over her head didn't mean that she was going to not attack still. Still remaining in a ramming posture, Marie came out of her invisibility from the side and charged at Scribonia, now having lowered her body to level her height with her opponent. Even if Scribonia was going to stand up, it would still be a charge at her legs. Her ramming form however looked a bit, loose. As if she was going to move out of the form in one swift move for anything to happen. Marie still had her Anticipation Eye activated and was only waiting for Scribonia to act so that she could move in time. Alas, what Scribonia had been hopefully anticipating had not occurred, as Marie continued with her initial attack plan without hindrance. There was little time to react to the situation at hand, but luckily quick-thinking was Scribonia's specialty. As Marie's body barreled towards her, Scribonia twisted her body to face her and promptly delivered a crushing kick in the direction of Marie's ribs, which she hoped would be enough to both counter Marie's attack and deliver one of her own. Marie released and flinched back away from Scribonia, having used her loose posture as a headstart for retreat. Although there was no real attack in the initial charge, it would have given Scribonia that illusion to do so. Holding a single finger out towards at the opponent, a great glow of light overcame the hand as it shone brightly in front of Scribonia's face. The light also concealed Marie from the audience that when the light began to face, there was nothing left where Marie last stood. She was using her invisibility to her potential and wanted to see where Scribonia was going to leave off, her Anticipation Eye still in use. Rather than responding instantly with an attack, Scribonia just stood up from where she initially sat and looked around blankly, knowing well that Marie was in fact invisible. "Your lack of direct combat speaks volumes. Did your family run out of capable relatives to fight?" Scribonia spat in a blank tone. Promptly after, Scribonia assumed her Bone-Make position and muttered the name of a particular spell; this utterance swiftly produced no less than ten magical seals of varying placements and heights. Each of the seals began to glow with a blinding white light before flurries of bone shards began raining down out of each one of them. Unlike some of Scribonia's other attacks, this one would prove effective regardless of whether or not she could see her target, or how they attempted to counter it. Marie seeing no other choice charged towards Scribonia, running across the ground and moving herself out of the way of the incoming spikes. Almost missing her footing after some bones came close, Marie was closing in the distance before feeling a sharp pain strike on the side of her arm. Coming out of invisibility, Marie saw that her arm was slashed by a spike and felt that she needed to attack now. Some of the bones that had impaled the ground near her stuck up straight from the floor with an approachable handle which Marie could grab onto. Taking two, Marie wanted to use them as daggers in a way as she moved to Scribonia ever so fast, faster than before with the drive to survive. The closer she got to her target, Marie was ready to slash out at the girl, one dagger used for stabbing whilst the other for cutting. Scribonia knew that if she did not act fast enough or accurately enough, it would spell the end of the match with herself and the rest of her family on the losing end. With her rapid decision-making skills, Scribonia chose to simply stay dormant until the last second; she waited until Marie was just over two feet in front of her before falling to the ground and contorting her body around to deliver a sweeping kick to Marie's legs. Marie was able to jump over Scribonia in time as she dodged the attack, however ended up on the otherside as she had leapt over the small girl. A sudden realisation washed over the young Sibiko, before a smile formed on her lips. Looking at Scribonia, Marie held both hands up into the air. "I forfeit." She announced, "These games were stupid anyway". Surely, this was some sort of sick trick. Forfeiting a Palandiell was something that was considered taboo in Encan culture, something that even the foreign Scribonia knew. She was determined not to fall for it, if it were part of some elaborate scheming to take the victory of the competition. Scribonia retained her battle stance, and simply stared dead into the eyes of Marie, listening for the response of the higher-ups. After hearing the booming voice of one of the judges declaring that Scribonia had won the battle for her family, her stance relaxed and she walked toward Marie with a slightly unsettling smile before giving her a firm handshake and returning to her preparation area.